Amelia Bones (Epithalamium series)
Amelia Susan Bones (12 November 1920–2 July 1996) is a secondary character in the Epithalamium series of stories by Squibstress. Biography Early life Amelia Bones was born in 1920 to Robert Bones, scion of a wealthy pure-blood family, and Elisabeth Bones (née Cadwallader), a Muggle-born witch. She was joined by a brother, Edgar, in 1931. The Bones family, though pure-blood, were adamantly against the blood-purity laws that had been proposed in the Wizengamot during the early 'thirties, which earned them both friends and enemies in wizarding society. Hogwarts years In September 1932, Amelia went off to Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Amelia excelled in her studies, particularly Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts. She played Keeper for her House Quidditch team beginning in her second year, and from her third year on, she was a top member of the Hogwarts Dueling Club, winning the school championship in her final year. Post-graduate studies By the time she left Hogwarts in 1939, Amelia was determined to become an Auror. She knew—through her father, who was an Auror —that with the growing threat posed by Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald on the Continent and his sympathisers in Britain, the Ministry was considering letting women into the Auror training programme for the first time. When Amelia applied, however, she was turned down. Determined to fulfil her dream, Amelia set to work improving her skills so that, when the day came, she would be an almost perfect candidate for first female Auror. Armed with her "Outstanding" Potions N.E.W.T. (one of five she'd earned), she got a job working at a Diagon Alley apothecary while she studied with the great dueling master Werner Hellewege and Dark Arts scholar Hephaestus Shacklebolt. In 1942, Amelia was accepted into the prestigious Salem (U.S.) Witches' Institute to study international magical law. By the time she had finished her degree, the escalating global wizarding war had finally prompted the Aurors to begin taking all qualified applicants. In the summer of 1944, Amelia became one of three witches accepted into the Auror training programme. Friendship with Minerva McGonagall Amelia quickly became friends with one of the other two female Auror-trainees, Minerva McGonagall, and the two young women would end up sharing a flat together in London for several years. The close friendship would last throughout Amelia's life. The two witches became stepsisters when Amelia's widowed mother married Minerva's father, Thorfinn McGonagall. The two elder mages had met when both showed up at the Ministry to collect their daughters after they had been injured in a field operation. Amelia was one of the few people who suspected the depth of Minerva's feelings for Albus Dumbledore, and she was delighted to be one of the few witnesses at their 1957 wedding. Injury Amelia lost her left eye in January 1945 during an operation in the forest of Ardennes. She was subsequently fitted with a magical prosthesis that allowed her to see binocularly. It took many months of therapy and hard work to become accustomed to the prosthesis, but Amelia was determined that it would not affect her dueling skills, and she and Minerva spent many afternoons sparring in the Magical Law Enforcement Department's practice rooms. Later, when Amelia became Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she traded the cumbersome magical eye for a much smaller, cosmetically improved version. The new prosthesis was somewhat less functional than the old eye, but by this time, Amelia felt her professional appearance was more important than having the latest magical prosthetic capabilities. The new eye did not focus as well in tandem with her natural eye, so she took to wearing a magical monocle for reading. Relationship with Marlene McKinnon In 1945, Amelia's immediate superior, Greg McKinnon, introduced her to his sister, Marlene, at the annual Ministry Christmas party. The two witches were immediately attracted to one another and began an on-again, off-again romance, complicated by Marlene's fears about her father's reaction to her homosexuality. After her mother's death in 1947, Amelia decided it was time to grasp happiness with both hands and confronted Marlene about her apparent ambivalence. To Amelia's joy, Marlene opted to bring their relationship (discreetly) into the open, and the couple moved into a flat together in London's Marylebone neighbourhood. Career Auror Office In 1947, Amelia and Minerva became the first witches ever to complete the Auror training programme. However, despite Amelia's hard work, the Auror Office seemed determined to keep her away from field work after the end of the war. She grew increasingly frustrated with the desk work she was assigned until Greg McKinnon recognised her intelligence and her aptitude for politics and nuance, and recommended she be assigned to help senior MLE officials to draft Auror-related policy. By 1951, Amelia was officially promoted to Senior Auror. With her new authority, she was responsible for reviewing Auror-trainee candidates and helping to evaluate trainees before they were officially badged as Aurors. With Director Abbott, she helped revamp the training programme to emphasise investigational skills equally with wand skills. When Abbott retired in 1956, he recommended Amelia as his replacement, and Auror Office Head, Marius Edgecombe, was happy to give her the position. Amelia continued to improve the training programme, placing special emphasis on recruiting female trainees, and by the time she was promoted to Head of the Auror Office in 1977—the first witch to serve in the position—an average of two out of the five candidates accepted every year were women. First Wizarding War Amelia served as head of the Auror office during the height of the First Wizarding War. She took an aggressive approach to apprehending Dark witches and wizards, and she raised eyebrows within the Ministry by investigating even those of prominent families suspected of being Death Eaters. Possibly as a result of this, Amelia was targeted by Voldemort. She was attacked by Death Eaters on two separate occasions, but she managed to escape both times, killing two of her assailants, brothers Rufinus and Romulus Lestrange. Voldemort retaliated by ordering the murder of her partner, Marlene, who was an active member of the anti-Voldemort Order of the Phoenix. Several months later, Amelia's brother, Edgar (also a member of the Order of the Phoenix), was also killed, along with his wife and their elder son (who was intellectually disabled and lived with them.) The moment word of Voldemort's demise came through, Amelia deployed every Auror and Auror-trainee under her aegis to round up known and suspected Death Eaters; this time, her actions earned unanimous praise; however, Amelia was dismayed when the trials began. She felt that her boss, Barty Crouch Sr (who was serving as Chief Interrogator on the most important trials), was overhasty in his prosecution. The two clashed when Amelia felt Crouch was encroaching on her investigations by offering immunity deals to certain defendants in exchange for the names of additional alleged Death Eaters. Amelia turned to her friend Griselda Marchbanks, who was a member of the Wizengamot, and who was equally dismayed at the proceedings. Amelia urged her to nominate their mutual friend Minerva McGonagall to fill one of several Wizengamot seats left vacant by former supporters of Voldemort. With the help of Albus Dumbledore (who was Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot), Minerva was duly elected, and with Griselda, Albus, and a few other like-minded Wizengamot members, she did what she could to ensure the remaining trials were as fair as they could be. Head of Magical Law Enforcement When it was discovered that his son had been a Death Eater, Crouch was forced out of his position as Head of Magical Law Enforcement, and in late 1982, Amelia was chosen to replace him, once again becoming the first woman to hold the position. Amelia took to the job with relish, exercising her considerable political talents to revamp the department and to modernise British magical law enforcement. She served ex officio on the Wizengamot and sat on the Judiciary Committee, helping to oversee trials and eventually becoming known as the most skilled—and fairest—of its Interrogators. Second Wizarding War Amelia believed Albus Dumbledore when he informed the Wizengamot of Voldemort's return. It quickly became clear that the Ministry under Cornelius Fudge was going to ignore this development "until it walked up and Transfigured his bollocks into Blibbering Humdingers," as she put it, and when Fudge turned to actively trying to discredit Dumbledore, Amelia considered resigning to join the Order of the Phoenix. Albus and Minerva talked her out of it, convincing her of the importance of having level heads in both the Ministry and the Wizengamot. Life in the Ministry and the Wizengamot became increasingly difficult for Amelia, as Fudge and his Deputy, Dolores Umbridge, filled important positions with witches and wizards hostile to Dumbledore and attempted to sway members of the Wizengamot to their views. Amelia did what she could to temper this, and when Fudge insisted on a full Wizengamot trial for Harry Potter after he had used magic to defend himself and his Muggle cousin against an attack by rogue Dementors, Amelia used her prerogative as Chair of the Judicial Committee to name herself as one of the three Interrogators, ensuring that Potter got as fair a hearing as possible. After the exposure of Voldemort following the Battle in the Department of Mysteries, Amelia spent much of her time working with Auror Office Head Gawain Robards to organise protections for key Ministry personnel and Wizengamot members, and (quietly) to try to determine who had been Imperiused and who was working directly for Voldemort within the Ministry. Death By the summer of 1996, Voldemort had once again marked Amelia for death. This time, however, he took no chances. He Imperiused Pius Thicknesse, then-Director of the International Magical Office of Law, forcing him to get the new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour to divulge to him the location of the Unplottable house into which Amelia had been moved for her protection. Thicknesse succeeded—Obliviating Scrimgeour to ensure he could not alert Amelia—and passed the information to Voldemort. On the evening of 2 July 1996, when Amelia arrived at the house, Voldemort was waiting with eight of his best henchmen. Amelia put up a valiant fight but was ultimately overwhelmed. She endured several hours of torture, refusing to divulge any information on the covert operations of the Auror corps, before Voldemort himself delivered the curse that would kill her. Appears in Epithalamium Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Bones, Amelia (Epithalamium series) Category:Killed by Lord Voldemort Category:Females Category:Individuals with disabilities Category:Government Officials Category:Keepers Category:Heads of the Auror Office Category:Wizards